Image processing apparatus

1. An object inspecting apparatus, comprising: an image taking device which takes an image of an object; an image-data memory in which image data representing the taken image of the object is stored; negative-search-line producing means for producing at least one negative search line which is expected, when at least one of a position, a rotation angle, and a dimension of the object satisfies a first predetermined condition, not to intersect an edge of the image of the object represented by the image data, an optical characteristic of the image significantly changing at said edge; and inspection judging means for judging that the object passes the inspection, when said at least one negative search line does not intersect the edge of the image of the object, and judging that the object does not pass the inspection, when said at least one negative search line intersects the edge of the image of the object.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a measuring device which measures at least one of the position, the rotation angle, and the dimension of the object, wherein the negative-search-line producing means produces said at least one negative search line based on the measured one of the position, the rotation angle, and the dimension of the object.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising positive-search-line producing means for producing at least one positive search line which is expected, when at least one of the position, the rotation angle, and the dimension of the object satisfies a second predetermined condition, to intersect the edge of the image of the object represented by the image data.

4. An apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the inspection judging means judges, when said at least one negative search line does not intersect the edge of the image of the object and simultaneously when said at least one positive search line satisfies at least a third condition that said at least one positive search line intersects the edge of the image of the object, that the object is an expected object and passes the inspection.

5. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said at least one negative search line comprises at least one of (a) at least one finite line having opposite ends and (b) at least one closed line.

6. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the image taking device comprises a plurality of image-take elements each of which produces an electric signal representing an optical characteristic value of a corresponding one of a plurality of picture elements of the image of the object, wherein the image-data memory stores, as the image data, the respective optical characteristic values represented by the respective electric signals produced by the image-take elements, such that each of the respective optical characteristic values is associated with a position of a corresponding one of the picture elements in the image of the object, wherein the apparatus further comprises a virtual-point designator which designates an arbitrary virtual point on a virtual screen corresponding to a physical screen defined by the image data stored in the image-data memory; and virtual-point-data calculating means for calculating an optical characteristic value of the designated virtual point based on the respective optical characteristic values of at least two picture elements of the image that correspond to the designated virtual point, and wherein the negative-search-line producing means produces, on the virtual screen, said at least one negative search line.

7. A recording medium on which an object-inspecting control program is recorded which is readable by a computer and is usable by the computer to inspect an object based on image data representing an image of the object taken by an image taking device, the image data being stored in an image-data memory, the program comprising the steps of: producing at least one negative search line which is expected, when at least one of a position, a rotation angle, and a dimension of the object satisfies a predetermined condition, not to intersect an edge of the image of the object represented by the image data, an optical characteristic of the image significantly changing at said edge, and judging that the object passes the inspection, when said at least one negative search line does not intersect the edge of the image of the object, and judging that the object does not pass the inspection, when said at least one negative search line intersects the edge of the image of the object.

8. A recording medium according to claim 7 , wherein said at least one negative search line comprises at least one of (a) at least one finite line having opposite ends and (b) at least one closed line.

9. An object inspecting apparatus, comprising: an image taking device which takes an image of an object; an image-data memory in which image data representing the taken image of the object is stored; search-line producing means for producing (a) at least one negative search line which is expected, when at least one of a position, a rotation angle, and a dimension of the object satisfies a first predetermined condition, not to intersect an edge of the image of the object represented by the image data, an optical characteristic of the image significantly changing at said edge, and (b) at least one positive search line which is expected, when at least one of the position, the rotation angle, and the dimension of the object satisfies a second predetermined condition, to intersect the edge of the image of the object; and inspection judging means for judging that the object passes the inspection, when said at least one negative search line does not intersect the edge of the image of the object and said at least one positive search line satisfies at least a third condition that said at least one positive search line intersects the edge of the image of the object, and judging that the object does not pass the inspection when said at least one negative search line intersects the edge of the image of the object and said at least one positive search line does not satisfy at least the third condition.

10. An apparatus according to claim 9 , further comprising a measuring device which measures at least one of the position, the rotation angle, and the dimension of the object, wherein the search-line producing means produces (a) said at least one negative search line and (b) said at least one positive search line, based on the measured one of the position, the rotation angle, and the dimension of the object.

11. An apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the measuring device comprises: a seek-template data memory in which seek-template data representing a seek template is stored, the seek template comprising a plurality of pairs of points, the two points of each pair out of said pairs being distant from each other; object judging means for making, when the seek template represented by the seek-template data is superposed on a screen on which the image represented by the image data is present and respective optical characteristic values corresponding to the two points of said each pair satisfy a fourth predetermined condition relating to an amount of difference between respective optical characteristic values inside and outside the edge of the image, an individual positive judgment that one of said two points of said each pair is located inside the edge of the image and the other point of said each pair is located outside the edge of the image, and further making, when said individual positive judgment is made with respect to the two points of each pair out of not less than a predetermined amount of said pairs, a total positive judgment that the object is an object being sought by the seek template; a measure-template data memory in which measure-template data representing a measure template is stored, the measure template comprising a plurality of measuring search lines; and edge-point-position determining means for superposing the measure template represented by the measure-template data, on the screen on which the image represented by the image data is present, and determining respective positions of respective edge points at which the measuring search lines intersect the edge of the image.

12. An apparatus according to claim 11 , further comprising seek-template producing means for automatically producing the seek-template data based on reference-object defining data defining a reference object.

13. An apparatus according to claim 11 , further comprising measure-template producing means for automatically producing the measure-template data based on the seek-template data representing the seek template.

14. An apparatus according to claim 13 , further comprising re-measure-template producing means for automatically producing a re-measure template as a new measure template for re-measurement of the object, based on at least one of the position, the rotation angle, and the dimension of the object measured using the measure template.

15. An apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein at least one of (a) said at least one negative search line and (b) said at least one positive search line comprises at least one finite line having opposite ends.

16. An apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein said at least one finite line comprises at least one straight segment.

17. An apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein at least one of (a) said at least one negative search line and (b) said at least one positive search line comprises at least one closed line.

18. An apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the image taking device comprises a plurality of image-take elements each of which produces an electric signal representing an optical characteristic value of a corresponding one of a plurality of picture elements of the image of the object, wherein the image-data memory stores, as the image data, the respective optical characteristic values represented by the respective electric signals produced by the image-take elements, such that each of the respective optical characteristic values is associated with a position of a corresponding one of the picture elements in the image of the object, wherein the apparatus further comprises a virtual-point designator which designates an arbitrary virtual point on a virtual screen corresponding to a physical screen defined by the image data stored in the image-data memory; and virtual-point-data calculating means for calculating an optical characteristic value of the designated virtual point based on the respective optical characteristic values of at least two picture elements of the image that correspond to the designated virtual point, and wherein the search-line producing means produces, on the virtual screen, (a) said at least one negative search line and (b) said at least one positive search line.

19. A recording medium on which an object-inspecting control program is recorded which is readable by a computer and is usable by the computer to inspect an object based on image data representing an image of the object taken by an image taking device, the image data being stored in an image-data memory, the program comprising the steps of: producing (a) at least one negative search line which is expected, when at least one of a position, a rotation angle, and a dimension of the object satisfies a first predetermined condition, not to intersect an edge of the image of the object represented by the image data, an optical characteristic of the image significantly changing at said edge, and (b) at least one positive search line which is expected, when at least one of the position, the rotation angle, and the dimension of the object satisfies a second predetermined condition, to intersect the edge of the image of the object, and inspection judging means for judging that the object passes the inspection, when said at least one negative search line does not intersect the edge of the image of the object and said at least one positive search line satisfies at least a third condition that said at least one positive search line intersects the edge of the image of the object, and judging that the object does not pass the inspection when said at least one negative search line intersects the edge of the image of the object and said at least one positive search line does not satisfy at least the third condition.

20. A recording medium according to claim 19 , wherein at least one of (a) said at least one negative search line and (b) said at least one positive search line comprises at least one of (a) at least one finite line having opposite ends and (b) at least one closed line.

21. An object inspecting apparatus, comprising: an image taking device which takes an image of an object; an image-data memory in which image data representing the taken image of the object is stored; a measuring device which measures, based on the image data stored in the image-data memory, at least one of a position, a rotation angle, and a dimension of the object; negative-search-line producing means for producing, based on the measured one of the position, the rotation angle, and the dimension of the object, at least one negative search line which is expected, when at least one of the position, the rotation angle, and the dimension of the object satisfies a predetermined condition, not to intersect an edge of the image of the object represented by the image data, an optical characteristic of the image significantly changing at said edge; and defect judging means for judging, when said at least one negative search line intersects the edge of the image of the object, that the object has an unexpected edge, and thereby judging that the object has a defect.

22. An object inspecting apparatus according to claim 21 , wherein the image taking device comprises a telecentric optical system.

23. An apparatus according to claim 22 , wherein the telecentric optical system comprises: a reflecting plane surface which reflects light beams; a first lens system whose optical axis is perpendicular to the reflecting plane surface and which converges the light beams reflected by the plane surface, to a focal point of the first lens system; an object supporting device which supports the object at a position intermediate between the reflecting plane surface and the first lens system; a beam splitter which has a reflecting surface and which is provided on one of opposite sides of the first lens system that is more distant from the reflecting plane surface than the other side; an orifice which is provided at a position which is plane-symmetric with the focal point of the first lens system with respect to the reflecting surface of the beam splitter; a light source which is provided on one of opposite sides of the orifice that is more distant from the beam splitter than the other side; and a second lens system which has a focal point at the focal point of the first lens system and which converts the light beams which have been converged by the first lens system and have passed through the beam splitter, into parallel light beams, and wherein the image taking device comprises an image-take sensor which is provided at a position where the image-take sensor takes an image formed by the parallel light beams provided by the second lens system.

24. An apparatus according to claim 21 , wherein said at least one negative search line comprises at least one of (a) at least one finite line having opposite ends and (b) at least one closed line.

25. An apparatus according to claim 21 , wherein the image taking device comprises a plurality of image-take elements each of which produces an electrical signal representing an optical characteristic value of a corresponding one of a plurality of picture elements of the image of the object, wherein the image-data memory stores, as the image data, the respective optical characteristic values represented by the respective electric signal produced by the image-take elements, such that each of the respective optical characteristic values is associated with a position of a corresponding one of the picture elements in the image of the object, wherein the apparatus further comprises a virtual-point designator which designates an arbitrary virtual point on a virtual screen corresponding to a physical screen defined by the image data stored in the image-data memory; and virtual-point-data calculating means for calculating an optical characteristic value of the designated virtual point based on the respective optical characteristic values of at least two picture elements of the image that correspond to the designated virtual point, and wherein the negative-search-line producing means produces, on the virtual screen, said at least one negative search line.